This invention is in the field of cleaning systems for aquarium tanks. Such tanks have been laboriously cleaned by dipping buckets into the tank and carrying buckets of used water to a sink to be dumped. The filling of such tanks has been done by the laborious carrying of buckets of water to the tank, one by one.
There have been proposals in the prior art for cleaning aquarium tanks by use of a hose stretching from the aquarium to the sink and by use of a pump.
However, such proposals have involved the expense of an electric pump for water, or an electric pump for air used to power the removal of water from the aquarium. It is my concept that it is more economical to use the power of water coming from a water faucet at a sink. In addition, the use of water power is with greater safety because there is less danger of electric shock when handling water around electric current, as in the prior art proposals.
Economy is also very important. It is my opinion that the reason the earlier proposals are not seen on the market, in my experience, is because they are quite expensive.
A problem arises in the use of water power from a tap because of the great vertical distance needed to make an effective venturi pump, if such a pump is made in accordance with the venturi pumps of the prior art used in other fields. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a venturi pump which has special principles making it possible for the pump to be contained between a normal faucet level and the bottom of a sink, so that the average home can use such a device.
A further object of this invention is to provide a rock-stirring device for stirring the rocks on the bottom of an aquarium to cause the debris to raise therefrom so as to be drawn off by suction through a hose, the suction being applied to a small area for effective results and the area being bounded by the housing of the rock-stirring device, which latter has a stirring rod mounted in it.
Still another objective is to provide a squeegee especially adapted to work on the vertical walls of an aquarium, the squeegee having a resilient blade, such as a rubber blade, and there being an inlet for catching the debris-laden water as it is removed from the aquarium wall and for delivering it through a hose to a sink.
Heretofore, the only tools available for cleaning the sidewalls of an aquarium have been brushes or razor blades or resilient squeegee blades disposed in a pushing position for being pushed over a surface rather than in a pulling position for being pulled over a surface, which latter is much more effective on the sidewalls of an aquarium, the only pushing squeegee blades, however, in the prior art being for swimming pools not for aquariums.